Making A Mockery Of The Government's Efforts To Sanitise Galamsey

NEARLY two months have passed since the Chairman of the Inter-ministerial Committee On Illegal Mining (IMCIM), PROF. KWABENA FRIMPONG-BOATENG, outlined a well-thought-out “road-map” whereby the Government intended to train illegal small-scale-miners -- or galamseyers -- and help them to earn a living without causing environmental devastation.

As part of the programme, galamseyers have been invited to the headquarters of IMCIM, in Accra, to be “vetted” to establish their suitability for participation in the programme.

Some of these people have responded to the calls made to them by IMCIM, but the greater number of them have refused to come forward to participate in the programme. The Executive Secretary of IMCIM, Mr Charles Bissue, disclosed in a radio programme broadcast on 8 October 2018, that the response rate has been less than 50 percent. He accused those who refused to participate in the programme of “hypocrisy”. They made all sorts of claims but when they were requested to come forward to have their claims put to the test, they refused to comply.

Indeed, it’s an under-statement to say that IMCIM has been unpleasantly surprised by what it has found on the ground since it began to implement its programme. If care is not taken, the carefully calibrated programme crafted by the Government, and the resources devoted to it, will fail to produce the desired result, namely, the cessation of the horrendous devastation caused by galamsey.

My personal view is that the Government should move swiftly and decisively to erase any confusion created in the public mind that the implementation of the “road-map” means that the Government’s attitude to galamsey has changed. Actions to detect and prosecute galamsey operators should be beefed up, during the implementation of the programme, so as to drive it home to galamseyers that the only alternative to their participation in the programme is to squarely face the wrath of the nation.

The wrath of the nation must be expressed in military action against galamseyers, whatever it takes. Stories from the field describe a situation whereby galamseyis still in full swing, despite the huge educational campaign launched by the Government. One IMCIM team that conducted operations at Odaho, in the Amansie Central district of the Ashanti Region, found galamseyers in full control of certain areas, control enforced with armed patrols and electronic surveillance equipment.

One area of operation extended to well over 2 kilometers. The miners were using more than 100 tipper trucks and about 50 excavators in their operation. Members of the team were threatened with death, should they approach beyond certain vantage points. In one instance, a Chinese operator of CCTV surveillance equipment was arrested. Eight other Chinese and about 20 Ghanaians managed to escape.

The question everyone is asking now is this: didn’t these Chinese nationals hear that our President had been to see their President in Beijing, and that the two men had agreed that Chinese participants in galamsey should face the strong arm of the law in Ghana? Are they not aware that the Chinese Government itself can prosecute them for engaging in activities prejudicial to China’s friendly relations with foreign countries [like Ghana]?

Meanwhile, the Ghanaian President, Nana Ado Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has called on the country’s judiciary to do its bit in helping to deter galamsey operators from engaging in their nefarious operations. Swearing-in four new Supreme Court judges in Accra on 3 October, the President said that:

QUOTE: The concept of deterrence must be an important part of sentencing policy, especially in areas of great social concern, such as the fight against galamsey…Whilst recognizing the dictates of due process and the protection of human rights, President Akufo-Addo indicated that even though sentences are meted out in accordance with the Criminal Offences Act, there is discretion for the judge, within a certain band.

It continues to be a source of worry that persons, for instance, caught in the act of destroying our environment and polluting our water bodies -- the very inheritance of our future generations -- because of the phenomenon of illegal mining, popularly referred to as galamsey, get away with lenient sentences….

The media landscape is replete with accounts of persons who steal goats (for example) receiving sentences of not less than two years in prison... I suggest that, in certain cases, the discretion must be exercised for the upper end of the band, i.e. for the maximum, the President added. UNQUOTE

The President showed remarkable courage in making such a statement, for he obviously must be aware that he could be accused of giving 'directions' to the judiciary and thereby causing one arm of the government, the executive, to “interfere” with the functions of another, the judiciary.

But such a literal interpretationof the doctrine of “Separation of Powers” would be myopic, in my view. The entire country is enjoined by the “Directive Principles” of our Constitution to work towards the welfare and survival of Ghanaian society, and if the President, our Chief Executive, observes practices that endanger the lives of current and future generations, he is duty-bound to draw the attention of other organs of state to actions they can take to end such practices.

Of course, while the attention of the judiciary must be drawn to what it can do to help halt the galamsey menace, the Government must ask itself whether its own legal officers are doing everything they can to use the courts proficiently to end galamsey.

How often have the officials of the Attorney-General’s office appealed to higher courts against the fines and other minor sentences imposed by magistrates and lower courts on galamsey offenders? How strong are the cases they take to the courts against galamseyers?

How often have the Ghanaian employers or collaborators of Chinese galamseyers been traced and brought to court for illegally employing foreigners or assisting them to engage in illegal activities? How often have the police followed up cases in which Chinese nationals are granted visas, without adequate guarantees with regard to residence and civil liabilities?

Who has been issuing Chinese nationals with so-called ‘NON-CITIZEN IDENTITY CARDS”? How can foreigners be given identity cards when Ghanaians themselves have not yet been issued with identity cards? Are these not matters which should arouse the “interest” of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police and the Bureau of National Investigations? The police, like the judiciary, ought to be aware that the state takes the struggle against galamsey seriously and that all aspects of the horrendous enterprise must be ruthlessly stifled at source.

Having refused to draw back from the risk of courting displeasure by allegedly “interfering” with the judiciary, the President will, I hope, demonstrate equal toughness and kick the police and other investigatory bodies to do what the country expects of them. They should not wait to follow up cases to their logical conclusion. Chinese nationals have been arrested, yes. But who brought them to Ghana? Was that action legal? If not, what punishment should be visited upon those who committed that crime? Who bail – or attempt to bail – Chinese nationals caught carrying out galamseyoperations? Since galamsey began to ruin Ghana;'s water-bodies and lands, how many Ghanaian collaborators of foreigners have been caught, named and shamed and punished by the courts?

If such aspects of the struggle against galamsey are ignored, it will appear that the Government’s own officials are making a mockery of the Government’s efforts to eradicate the heinous crime that's being committed against unborn generations of Ghanaians. That is too great a crime to contemplate, wouldn't any true and PATRIOTIC Ghanaian say?